Coins For Collectors

The jewelers called in a former diver friend experienced with treasure hunting and he said the coins were a rare find, going on to value them at $800 to $1,200 each, according to Deal.

“The story is real,” Gattuso said. “Uncle Vern told us that three people had originally found it (the coins) along the Peace River. He told us where the location is. And he said supposedly he had found one of the chests.

“Originally, we had made contact with Uncle Vern because he is part of the Collins family, which is part of the Boggess family. He tells the story about the pirate Gasparilla whose ship went down and Juan Gomez fled to Lady Boggess’ property and he paid her hush money and buried the treasure on her property … so that’s why we cycled back to this location. This is where those men were said to have searched.”

Gattuso went on to say those three men attempted to pull the treasure out separately, but did not succeed.

“So, they staked it for later and went back and couldn’t locate it … they never found it,” Gattuso said. “Years later, I get a phone call from Boggs Jewelry and they say they had, awhile back, three men stop in saying they had treasure and a guy named Vern told him to go to Boggs Jewelry.